Khamzat Chimaev had a lot of doubters about his credibility as a middleweight, mostly due to his lackluster and somewhat underwhelming performance against Kamaru Usman last year. But he shut his critics up in the boldest of ways by lodging Robert Whittaker’s teeth, pushing them back inside the Aussie’s mouth. However, that wasn’t even the most baffling moment at UFC 308 because that night Ilia Topuria registered an even “scarier” victory over Max Holloway, according to UFC’s longtime color commentator, Joe Rogan.

“What he [Chimaev] did to Whittaker was just; nobody thought that was going to happen. That was crazy, and what Ilia did to Max is even scarier, too,” Joe Rogan told his guests Francis Foster and Konstantin Kisin on JRE episode #2220. The 57-year-old claims it’s never safe to be inside the Octagon with Topuria, surprised at how insanely powerful his strikes are, especially due to ‘El Matador’s boxing skills.

“There’s always a danger with Topuria. he’s f—ing so dangerous. When he hits you, it’s different than anybody, especially with his hands. His f—ing boxing is so high level. There were shots that he was landing that would thud and you can see it in Max’s face,” Joe Rogan further stated.

Max Holloway arguably put up a better fight than former champion Alexander Volkanovski, lasting one round more than ‘The Great’. Regardless, Joe Rogan found the Georgian-Spaniard to have used his technique in such a way that ‘Blessed’ could not avoid getting into fisticuffs even when he’d try to.

“Max was landing a lot of stuff, too, but he was forced into these exchanges and when you’re forced into these exchanges, Ilia has superior technique. His punches come straight down the pipe, his hooks are perfect, his distance management is perfect, he’s super aggressive, and the consequences of getting hit by him are so grave,” the UFC color commentator added.

The JRE host didn’t just stop praising Ilia Topuria with these comments, but he also made a very bold claim about the 145lbs king. Apparently. Joe Rogan believes that the 27-year-old has reached such a level in this sport that he’s now the new “high-water mark.”

Is Ilia Topuria the new flag bearer for MMA?

At this point, it would be unwise to deny how good of a fighter Ilia Topuria has shown the world to be as he bulldozered his way through Max Holloway’s granite chin. With this, he put all doubts to bed. And it was the only accolade that ‘El Matador’ needed to make Joe Rogan believe that just like Canelo Alvarez is for boxing, the Georgian-Spaniard could very well be the face of MMA.

“Ilia is fast as f—. He’s not slow at all [and] He doesn’t have any disadvantages. He doesn’t have any weaknesses, man. That’s the thing. That’s why I say he’s the new high-water mark. Some people think he’s the best pound-for-pound fighter alive,” Joe Rogan added during his JRE episode.

With every fight, we’ll get to learn how far Ilia Topuria can go now that he’s dispatched two of the best featherweights ever. Maybe he will jump to the lightweight division and continue his winning ways. Who knows? Do you think, just like Joe Rogan, that Ilia Topuria is the biggest deal in MMA? Drop your comments below.